ID cards will cut out cheating

PUBLISHED: 02:01 28 July 2008 | UPDATED: 09:23 10 June 2010

I am referring to the article on the back page of the Journal of July 17 under the heading of No ID card means no play next term". I am wondering why your correspondent has been seeking the views of youth football clubs in Honiton and Sidmouth and publis

I am referring to the article on the back page of the Journal of July 17 under the heading of "No ID card means no play next term".I am wondering why your correspondent has been seeking the views of youth football clubs in Honiton and Sidmouth and publishing their views in the Exmouth Journal? We have in the town some significant junior teams, such as Exmouth Juniors, Exmouth Amateurs and the club that I represent, Brixington Blues. Surely your readers would be more interested in the local impact rather than the views of clubs located elsewhere in East Devon.There is no doubt that the introduction of ID cards will involve a lot of extra administration for all clubs and especially for a club like ours, with one team and sometimes two for every age group from under eights to under 16s. Despite that, I am all in favour of the introduction of ID cards for all age groups. It will not only help to cut out cheating by playing over-age or unregistered players, but also help to cut the suspicion that a club is cheating because they are playing someone who is significantly larger than the rest on the pitch or they have a 12-year-old with a full beard!!ID cards in youth football may be new to this part of the UK, but in some areas they have, to my knowledge, been used for over 15 years.As regards the problem of players failing to bring the ID card to the match, this should not happen at our club. Although strictly speaking each ID card is the property of the player, we shall be encouraging all our managers to look after the ID cards. The manager can then present all the ID cards to the opposition manager prior to the match so they can be checked against the players in the team. I also think that it is important that inspection of ID cards becomes an integral part of the pre-match preparations for both teams and managers should willingly offer their ID cards to the opposition manager for checking. Richard Taylor,Chairman, Brixington Blues YFC.